Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Finally got around to watching this classic anime since, you know, it's a must-watch apparently. Overall, I was underwhelmed with Neon Genesis Evangelion. I'm not sure if it's because it's such an old anime or if it wasn't that great to begin with. The story started out vague, got more clear, then just got confusing. Some things just aren't explained, similar to the Dark Souls series. The difference being Dark Souls is a game that's not mainly story-driven, while a show should be story-driven. Nice try, guy. Overall, the story is typical with some interesting twists, but nothing amazing. I'm actually impressed that the art was soacceptable for such an old anime. At no point during my watching did I ever think, "Wow, this anime looks super old." Good on them for that. Same thing goes for the sound. Nothing was really bad or good, except for the opening and ending songs. Those were pretty catchy.

The highlight of NGE was definitely the characters. For the most part, each character has a lot of depth and develops in interesting ways. Keeping in mind that the director of this anime was going through depression during its creation makes the character development make a lot more sense. There are no god-like super perfect protagonists, just normal people, complete with flaws (even fatal ones).

Unfortunately, the anime takes a turn for the WTF near the end, which throws the plot of the story out the window and cheapens the character development considerably. I found myself thinking, "Can I get 26 episodes of my life back?" I can see how this anime may appeal to certain people, however. Basically, if you came just for mech combat, you'll be bored.

Believable, introspective, and intricate characters weighed down by the meandering story drags my final score for this anime down to a 7.